“I’ve always had a book inside me, readers. Whether it’s the spark of a horror novel about someone who survives the trenches of World War One yet continues to be haunted by his memories of friends dying and eating Rat Surprise, a slice of fiction based on a season of Football Manager, or the endless concepts connected with Boro, I’m forever dreaming of fame, fortune and making it onto The South Bank Show before reality kicks in and I remember I work full time.” (Smog Blog)

“It is not difficult to find fault with some of the decisions made in the boardrooms of Manchester United and Liverpool. But the haranguing the clubs have faced for not joining the rest of the Premier League in displaying poppies on their shirts for the weekend fixtures is more disingenuous than the supposed offence. The Daily Mail’s Charles Sale has been applying “poppy pressure” on Premier League clubs this week after only 12 of the division’s 20 clubs announced plans to attach a poppy onto their kits.” (WSC)

“LIVERPOOL will brush off the controversy over England’s top clubs selling naming rights to their stadiums and chase the most expensive naming rights deal in the history of sport. Despite the recession, the Merseyside club’s hierarchy are convinced they can raise a mammoth £250m by persuading a leading global firm to buy the rights to name Liverpool’s proposed ground.” (TimesOnline)

“The Spanish league could very soon lose one of its handiest advantages, an advantage which puts its clubs in pole position in the European transfer market – namely the low tax charges foreign players enjoy in La Liga. This week Spanish football was hit hard with a government decision. A painful blow to all the top clubs and one that has put them all on alert, to the extent that rumours of a potential strike are flying around.” (ESPN)

“The nightmare of Liverpool was always going to provide this week’s most riveting drama in Europe. What we couldn’t know, though, was that it would be put into quite such tortured perspective by somebody else’s dream. Arsenal’s, that is.” (Independent)

“Pedro bagged a brace and Thierry Henry scored his first goal of the season as Barcelona cruised to a routine 4-2 win at home to Mallorca. Barca began the day a point ahead of fierce rivals Real Madrid at the top of the Primera Division. The Catalans took to the field two hours before Madrid’s derby clash at city rivals Atletico, in the knowledge a win would keep them top for another week, regardless of what happened in the capital.” (ESPN)

“Today we present the first in a multipart series of articles focused on some of the financial problems facing football leagues across the world- especially those in smaller countries. By the end of the series it will become clear that many of these financial problems are the result of a century and a half old organizational model that simply cannot cope with the realities of the modern football and the modern financial world. Having highlighted the ways in which this model has increasingly come up short when faced with the unique problems presented by the sporting and financial landscape of the twenty-first century, we will offer a number of possible solutions which will help to ensure the future stability of the game, both on and off the pitch. As always, we here at Avoiding the Drop look forward to your comments, questions, and criticisms.” (Avoiding the Drop)

“So… to review… for Liverpool to qualify for the Champions League round of sixteen one of the following scenarios needs to occur: 1.) Liverpool beat Debrecen AND Lyon beat Fiorentina AND Liverpool beat Fiorentina. 2.) Liverpool beat Debrecen AND Lyon draw with Fiorentina AND Liverpool beat Fiorentina by at least three goals. 3.) Liverpool beat Debrecen AND Fiorentina’s players are abducted by space aliens and replaced with cyborg footballers (this invokes an ancient Uefa rule that states any match influenced by extra-terrestrial involvement is automatically forfeit – see: Wolves v. Martians, 1972).” (EPL Talk)

“We all know about his fancy turn, his penchant for smokes and lollipops, and that something weird happened in the build up to the 1978 World Cup, but what else is their to know about Hendrik Johannes Cruijff ?” (midfielddynamo)

Pieter Bruegel, Peasant Wedding Feast (1567)
“If you’re a Liverpool fan, you’re probably pretty angry right now. You’ve won one game since September (albeit a pretty important one, against Manchester United), qualification to the knockout stage of the Champions League seems extremely improbable right now and you’re sixth in the English Premier League, after finishing second last year. (SI)

“Bolton Chairman Phil Gartside has popped his head above the parapet again. An article in today’s Guardian has once again floated the idea of a two tier Premier League. This would involve the co-opting of the current Cocaleague into the EPL structure, with those Bhoys and Gers from Glasgow added to taste.” (thetwounfortunates)

“Just as the Second World War had started at the beginning of the football season, it ended – in Britain, at least – at what would have been the end of it. It took, however, many years for the country to recover from the end of the fighting, so perhaps it is unsurprising that the Football League was unable to resume fixtures for the start of the 1945/46 season. The FA Cup, however, was a different matter. In the season immediately after the after the cessation of hostilities, The FA Cup was the only show in town.” (twohundredpercent)

“Trainspotting meets football trivia: welcome to the Knowledge’s very own perfect storm of nerdvana. Click here for our all-singing, all dancing interactive map of the route.” (Guardian)

“During Debrecen’s 1-0 defeat to Liverpool in the Champions League in September Clive Tyldesley referred to the Hungarian league as “the 35th strongest in Europe”. Given that the 15 or so countries below Hungary in the UEFA co-efficient included Albania, Armenia and Liechtenstein (who don’t even have a league) ‘strength’ is perhaps a misplaced word. Sadder perhaps is that Hungary is by some distance the lowest ranked country on the list to have appeared in a World Cup final. Given this weakness it is perhaps with some irony that September 2009 was anticipated more than almost any month since Hungary last appeared in a World Cup 23 years ago.” (WSC)

“Traditional terrace tipplers still mouthing up their marmite at the news that Newcastle’s St. James’ Park will henceforth be known as sportsdirect.com@St. James’ Park Stadium will be further aghast to learn that Chelsea would consider cashing in on Stamford Bridge. We are not too far off from Ethan Armstrong’s vision here at EPL Talk of sponsored songs and players. While the idea of selling naming rights in England is not new, what with the Emirates Stadium, the KC Stadium, Reebok Stadium and the DW Stadium; the practice is not nearly as common as in the United States, what with Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, Pizza Hut Park, the Home Depot Center and virtually every outdoor or indoor facility in the country.” (EPL Talk)

“James Richardson was in the hot seat for our groundbreaking live video edition of the web’s favourite football podcast. He was joined by Barry Glendenning , Rafa Honigstein and Paolo Bandini for a look at the latest Champions League action, as well as a preview of the weekend’s Premier League matches.” (Guardian)

“We should be close to learning the fate of Adam Johnson, and unfortunately it isn’t the news we all wanted to hear. Jinky’s leaving, and after all the talk about Real Madrid, Chelsea and Manchester United, it looks as though his likely destination will be Sunderland. Bloody Sunderland. Yeah, I realise he’s a Mackem, but still. Only joking, of course. If I’m honest, I can’t blame the winger for seeing the Stadium of Light as a better choice than the Riverside. Steve Bruce is doing a fine job up there, putting together a cogent side from all those disparate elements signed in a mad rush by Roy Keane.” (Smog Blog)

“The grand, pillared entrance to the Valeriy Lobanovskiy Stadium in Kiev, with a large image of Lobanovskiy himself resplendent on one side, gives the old stadium a presence far beyond its sub-17,000 capacity. The chill wind from the adjacent Dnipro river is equally foreboding. Old Trafford or the Santiago Bernabéu this is not, but the team from the black-and-blue half of Milan have seemed ill-at-ease at just about any Champions League venues of late.” (ESPN)

“Thanks to the Paulton Rovers site. Thanks to Matthew Bissex Architectural design Limited. Thanks to This Is Somerset.co.uk (set at ‘Lacey living Cup dream’, from 5 November,’09).” (billsportsmaps)

“Cote d’Ivoire secured a place at the World Cup finals in South Africa next year after Didier Drogba struck within two minutes of coming on as a substitute to clinch a 1-1 draw with Malawi on Saturday. The Ivorians, needing only a draw with the bottom-placed team in African qualifying Group E, had to come from behind after the hosts took a surprise 64th minute lead through Jacob Ngwira.” (AllAfrica)

‘Lethal’ Drogba holds key for Chelsea
“Manager Carlo Ancelotti hails striker Didier Drogba as “the best in the world” and Stamford Bridge new chief executive Ron Gourlay believes Chelsea can go on to win the Champions League twice in the next five years. One rings true. The other sounds rather hollow. Ancelotti’s not wrong about Drogba. He holds the key to the United clash.” (BBC)

Paolo Caliari, Persée délivrant Andromède
“A last-minute leveller from Lisandro fired Olympique Lyonnais into the UEFA Champions League knockout stage for the seventh season running, cancelling out Ryan Babel’s superb strike and delivering a major blow to Liverpool FC’s qualifying hopes.” (UEFA)

Liverpool’s Champions League situation a ‘disgrace’, says Pepe Reina
“Pepe Reina has said it is ‘disgraceful’ that Liverpool no longer have their Champions League destiny in their own hands following the 1-1 draw against Lyon. The Premier League side now have to win their final two games and hope the French side take something from their game at Fiorentina.” (Guardian)

Sloppy Liverpool punished as Lyons refuse to roll over
“Just when all those alchemic powers in Europe seemed to have served him once again, Rafael Benitez’s makeshift and ramshackle Liverpool defence was revealed for what it is last night. That it held to together with glue and sticky tape for 90 minutes only compounds the despair he will feel as a second injury-time goal in successive encounters with Lyons sends them all but out of the Champions League. Dreams of Madrid in May are fast being revised to Hamburg, and a Europa League final at best.” (Independent)

Reds’ hearts broken late on
“Liverpool’s hearts were broken by a cruel last-minute equaliser that has all but ended their Champions League dreams for a traumatic season. The much-maligned Ryan Babel had scored a wonderful goal with just seven minutes left and if Liverpool could have hung on to that lead they would still have had a realistic chance of reaching the last 16. But Liverpool’s season has been littered with shattering luck and bitter body blows, as well as beach-ball goals.” (ESPN)

Dirk Kuyt: Liverpool’s Champions League draw with Lyon feels like a defeat
“Liverpool were leading 1-0, thanks to a superb 25-yard strike from Ryan Babel, right up until the dying seconds before Lisandro Lopez snuck through to equalise, sending Lyon into the knockout stages of the Champions League and tipping the Anfield club towards the Europa League of Everton and Fulham. Liverpool are now five points behind second-placed Fiorentina with two rounds of games to play.” (Telegraph

Pepe Reina: Liverpool’s uncertain position in the Champions League is ‘disgraceful’
“Pepe Reina believes it is “disgraceful” that Liverpool’s destiny in the Champions League will not be decided by their own results. The Merseyside club could win their final two matches in group E and not qualify for the knockout stages after they drew 1-1 away to Lyons last night. The French club must avoid defeat against Fiorentina in their next match for Rafael Benitez’s side to stand a chance of qualification and this situation does not sit easily with Reina.” (TimesOnline)

“A day after he played in A.C. Milan’s 1-1 draw with Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League, Clarence Seedorf answered readers’ questions from Milan. This is the the third edition of Seedorf’s monthly discussion with Times readers. You can read earlier discussions here.” (NYT)

“Ten years ago today, when I was still single, I threw a party for about 20 of my friends in my studio apartment. It was November 5th, 1999. On a shoestring budget, I had an assortment of sausage rolls and poppadoms available for people to eat and plenty of bottles of beer to wash the food down.” (EPL Talk)

“Uruguayan club Rampla Juniors embarked on a huge global tour in 1956. Over the course of 71 days they played 24 games in 8 countries. They visited Brazil, Spain, France, Germany, Denmark, Israel, Turkey as well as England. They recorded 11 wins, 6 draws and only 7 defeats, a quite remarkable record given that they averaged a game every 3 days.” (footysphere)

“Having once again upset the odds to claim a creditable goalless draw with FC Barcelona and simultaneously enhance their UEFA Champions League Group F credentials, FC Rubin Kazan forward Aleksandr Bukharov insisted the Russian champions are “not afraid” of competing at Europe’s top table.” (UEFA)

Champions draw blank and face uphill struggle
“Rubin Kazan followed up their shock victory against Barcelona a fortnight ago with a defensive masterclass to leapfrog their Catalan opponents in Champions League Group F ahead of the evening game between Dynamo Kiev and Inter Milan.” (ESPN)

How Did Barca Fare in Russian Test?
“Rubin Kazan has Barcelona’s number. The Russian champion held the European champion to a goalless draw in sub-freezing temperatures in the Tatar capital, a week after upsetting the Blaugrana in Spain.” (NYT)

Zahra777
“Has any other player been so frustratingly brilliant as Zinedine Zidane? The Frenchman kept a quiet private life to his credit, but his transgressions on the pitch alternate between a rap sheet and a rhapsody. His feet could take down a 40 yard pass like a feather, yet in the blink of an eye bludgeon a Saudi player. Genius, yes. But deviant. Devlishly deviant. Zinedine Zidane, known as ‘Zizou,’ the French-born son of Algerian immigrants, plied his trade in France and Italy, making his name at Juventus, where his dizzying roulettes dazzled the catenaccio faithful. And his play for the French (les bleus) captivated a nation and a world.” (futfanatico)

“On the map, I have included a photo of each club’s stadium. If possible, I selected an exterior shot of the stadium, to give a view of the surroundings of each location. Kayserispor’s Kaydar Has Stadyumu is brand new; the photo I used is from last winter, and shows the now-completed structure about three-quarters finished. Here is a photo of the interior of the stadium {click here (TinyPic.com; photo by Serkam Erdogan)}. The stadium will be one of the main assets in Turkey’s bid for hosting a European Championship in the future.” (billsportsmaps)

“The news broke late Friday afternoon. It was the kind of information which, had it emanated from Wall Street, would have been said to move markets. Former Inter Milan coach Roberto Mancini had terminated his contract with the club, freeing him to take another job. In a matter of hours, rumors were swirling around those clubs among Europe’s elite with embattled managers, particularly Liverpool (Rafa Benitez) and Real Madrid (Manuel Pellegrini).” (WSJ)

“It’s not what you own, it’s what you’re owed – this is how the balance of power currently lies at the Rangers Football Club. Lloyds Banking Group is owed far more than they own, and they are prepared to take drastic measures to get what they are owed – up to and including administration, if reports of Rangers’ mid-October board meeting are to be relied upon. The immediately subsequent appointment to that board of “corporate recovery specialist” Douglas Muir was the clearest indication that Lloyds wanted their money, about £30m of it, but even those in Scotland who knew that something like financial implosion was coming Rangers’ way weren’t prepared for amount of figures thrown at them recently, concerning the debts and borrowings which have kept them just within touching distance Celtic over the latter part of the decade.” (twohundredpercent)

“Sometimes, when you hear a specific piece of music, the words fail to register in your head. Usually, this is background stuff; you hear it on hold, or it’s in an radio ad you hear a lot, or it’s just so damn catchy that, years later, you’re remembering that damn ‘Garfield-1-2-3-2-3’ jingle that haunted Cleveland for about ten years and wondering how the hell that’s even a phone number.” (Avoiding the Drop)

“‘The crisis of yesterday is the joke of tomorrow,’ HG Wells once wrote. Not that you’d have found anyone at Anfield on Sunday laughing about the previous day’s defeat at Fulham, or players and coaching staff at Real Madrid last week watching footage of the 4-0 defeat at Alcorcon in the Copa del Rey, and sitting around clutching their sides at a defensive performance that lead to arguably the most humiliating result in the club’s history. For the rest of us, of course, the hilarity is there from the start, whether we are laughing at the results, or whether we are laughing at the idea of teams like Liverpool and Real being in ‘crisis’.” (WSC)

“The top two teams from each UEFA Champions League group go into the first knockout round in the spring, with the third-placed clubs to enter the UEFA Europa League Round of 32.” (UEFA)

BillSportsMaps
“Where have all the wonder teams gone? There was a time – perhaps there still is that time – when the Serie A championship was totally dominated by the three superpowers: Internazionale, Milan and Juventus. Not only have this trio won 26 of the last 33 league titles, they have also tended (at least one of them) to utterly dominate the season, home and away.” (WorldSoccer)

“Former Bafana Bafana star striker, Phil ‘Chippa’ Masinga, is confident Carlos Alberto Parreira will turn Bafana Bafana’s fortunes around ahead of the 2010 World Cup finals on home soil next June.” (TimesLive)

Chris Burke (Cardiff City)
“Among the performers who have lit up this burgeoning Championship campaign are some familiar names. Michael Chopra has so far justified every last dime of his weighty fee, Kevin Nolan has buckled down and rehabilitated his reputation as an all purpose midfielder-cum-forward, and Adam Johnson’s sleek skills on the Middlesbrough wing have helped Smogheads forget the injured Stewart Downing. But who are the emerging stars of the league? Which players have burst on the scene and chalked up their greatest achievements this season?” (thetwounfortunates)

“More than a decade before “The Full Monty”, the decline of the city of Sheffield and the effect of the collapse of the city’s steel industry was already well documented. This week’s Video Of The Week goes back to 1984. “Steel City Blues” traces the decline of the city and ties it together with Sheffield Wednesday’s attempts to get back into the First Division for the first time since 1970.”
(twohundredpercent)

“UEFA Champions League comprises of three qualifying rounds, a play-off round, a group stage and four knockout rounds.” (UEFA)

“The candidates were announced last week for the Fifa World Player of the Year award. Am I the only one out there who’s not too interested? My problem with the thing is that this concentration on the individual can tend to overshadow one of the fundamental truths of the game – the stars shine brightest when the collective balance of the team is right. The point is proved by a brief look at the performances this year of one of the favourites. Based on what he has done for Barcelona, Lionel Messi would be a worthy winner – but that would certainly not be the case if the criteria was restricted to his form with Argentina. How can this be true?” (BBC – Tim Vickery)

“Rafael Benitez’s future as Liverpool manager is again the source of speculation – and while all that I am hearing from the Anfield hierarchy suggest he is in no danger of losing his job, results dictate everything. I will never advocate the sacking of any manager because I was someone who never had the bottle to do the job, but Benitez is under pressure. This is not me saying it – the facts, in the shape of poor results, are saying it.” (BBC)

“One of the most intriguing aspects of Spanish football is the way in which the different sets of supporters around the country react to defeat. It’s becoming better known nowadays that Spain is really a loose collective of chalks and cheeses, where you can cross a regional border and suddenly feel as though you are on a different planet – so it comes as no surprise that each football club in the country is un mundo (its own world). The Spanish themselves accept these differences as part of their own cultural mix, and have a fixed set of perspectives on everyone else.” (ESPN)

“In their new book ‘Soccernomics,’ to be published in the United States on Tuesday, the author Simon Kuper and the economist Stefan Szymanski do for soccer what ‘Moneyball’ did for baseball. It puts the game under an analytical microscrope using statistics, economics, psychology and intuition to try and transform a dogmatic sport.” (NYT)

Stanley Matthews
“In the mid-1880s, the success of Hibernians FC had inspired Irish communities throughout Scotland to form their own clubs, usually with ‘Hibernian’ or ‘Harp’ in their name. With a quarter of a million people of Irish descent living in and around Glasgow, it was only a matter of time before a powerful club would emerge.” (Historical Football Kits – Celtic)

“A couple of months ago in the midst of a conversation with my friend Bill Turianski he mentioned a radio show he listened to and a reference to the competitiveness (or not) of Major League Soccer. I followed up asking what podcasts he listened to and he gave me a couple of suggestions to get me started. I duly followed and have been truly blown away. I had no idea what I’d been missing. It’s somewhat nebulous I guess but just listening to footy-focused talk shows on a regular basis has made me feel so much more connected to this great big game of ours.” (albion road)

“Chelsea powered on and Arsenal humbled Tottenham, but Liverpool were plunged deeper into crisis after losing 3-1 to Fulham. Is Rafa Benítez’s job on the line in their Champions League clash with Lyon on Wednesday? Your Football Weekly pod squad is split – and they’re also not sure whether or not to back Hull’s Phil Brown a million percent. His new chairman doesn’t seem overly confident either.” (Guardian)

“League leaders Barcelona were denied victory in dramatic circumstances at Osasuna tonight as Gerard Pique put through his own net deep into injury time to give the hosts an unexpected point. Pique was attempting to clear after a Rafa Marquez error had let in Javier Camunas, but the Spain defender could only divert the ball into his own net and Barca were forced to settle for a draw which sees their lead at the top of the Primera Division cut to just a point after Real Madrid beat Getafe earlier in the evening.” (ESPN)

Osasuna vs Barca Highlights on 31/10/09
(All About FC Barcelona)

“Football fans have become better educated in the mysteries of football finances over recent years out of necessity as much as anything else, but just occasionally old naiveties come to the fore. It might just be that they can’t believe that things could be as bad off the pitch as on it at the moment, but Hull City fans are less concerned than they should be about the lack of financial information coming out of their club in recent times, and now that the information has come out and has proved as grim as one may have feared, they still don’t sem to believe that things can be as bad off the pitch as on it; despite the phrase “significant doubt over their ability to continue as a going concern” appearing not once, but three times in a relatively short annual report and statement of accounts for the Tigers’ promotion year.” (twohundredpercent)

“Liverpool traveled to play Fulham in the English Premier League on Saturday, October 31, 2009. After their huge win last weekend against Manchester United, Liverpool looks to continue their recent good form.” (The 90th Minute)

“Well, that showed me, didn’t it? A hopelessly limited Plymouth Argyle team came to the Riverside, put ten men behind the ball, defended deep, soaked up the pressure and hit us on the break. Comparisons between this and the similar 1-0 defeats at home to Leicester and Watford can’t be avoided, and demonstrate that Gordon has some tough decisions to make in turning the side into a winning one.” (SmogBlog)